CELTIC need a miracle in Turin after the Italians capitalised on Neil Lennon's decision to play Ambrose in their Champions League last-16 showdown.

ON reflection, perhaps it would have been better to give him the night off.

Just because team-mates call Efe Ambrose Morgan Freeman, it doesn’t necessarily follow that the script is always written with him in mind.

If that were the case, Ambrose would have won the African Cup of Nations for his country on Sunday night and kept enough in the tank to race halfway across the globe and produce more heroics for his club in one of the greatest triumphs of Celtic’s recent history.

But in reality it was all too much for the big Nigerian who left Parkhead last night a crestfallen and exhausted figure, knowing he had just been turned over by the Men in Black.

In other words, he had just walked into the wrong movie.

Not only did Ambrose start the night horribly with a defensive lapse which allowed Alessandro Matri to open the scoring and the Italians to dictate the action from then on.

But in the second half when this tie was still in the balance, he made an even bigger blunder when offered the chance of redemption at the other end. But he made a Shawshank of the header and Celtic’s hopes escaped with it.

Not long after that the utterly faultless Claudio Marchiso fired Juventus into a two-goal lead.

And before Celtic had regrouped Mirko Vucinic completed the Italian job with a third goal after another piece of sloppy play by Ambrose.

It will take a miracle now to stop Celtic’s adventure from ending here.

In fact, let’s face it, the tie was over last night. There will be no way back in Turin next month because the task is now so large it’s insurmountable.

This was hardly the way it was supposed to end. It was meant to be so much more romantic and rewarding for Neil Lennon and his players.

Hopes had been so high a few hours earlier. Lennon came bounding off the team bus, clenching a fist to the crowd as the first roar of the night went up – a noise so ferocious that it nearly startled old Brother Walfrid out of his slumber.

One by one his players followed him up the steps, carried in through the front doors on a thunderous wave of goodwill.

This was it. Two long months spent waiting for this moment were over. It was time to go to work.

Inside the ground, the corner reserved for the travelling fans was already filling up rapidly. For a while they may have been looking around, wondering what the fuss was all about. They would find out soon enough.

Gradually, the vast slopes began to awaken as Celtic’s supporters filed into position and as they did, the night air began to crackle in that unmistakable manner.

It’s a weird science alright but a unique chemical reaction takes place every time UEFA’s anthem is boomed out into this already highly-charged atmosphere.

Rob Casey/SNS Group

Celtic continued to battle - and had chances

It may sound a bit of a cliche but it’s true nonetheless. There is nowhere quite like it on nights such as these. It doesn’t just tickle the senses, it claws at them until the body experiences a higher state of consciousness. It is the ultimate performance enhancer.

If only Peter Lawwell knew how to capture and bottle it he could have supplied Lance Armstrong and made himself a small fortune.

Trouble was last night it was not only Celtic’s players whose eyes were bulging on the adrenalin rush. Juventus were sucking it in too and, amid the madness of it all, they got off to a flyer. Less than three minutes after the first whistle they were in the lead after a bit of jet-lagged defending from Ambrose who had only just stepped off the red eye from Lagos to make it here on time.

The Nigerian was still half dozing when Federico Peluso floated a high ball in his general direction.

Rather than step forward to deal with it, Ambrose hesitated and allowed Matri to muscle him out of the way and barge through to poke a low finish under the advancing Fraser Forster. Although Kelvin Wilson slid in to hack it out from under the bar, replays later showed the ball had already crossed the line.

In any case, Marchisio was on hand to remove all doubt by lashing it into the roof of the net by way of insurance.

The fact that Marchiso was so far forward and so alert so early in the match was a sign of Italian intent.

Alan Harvey/SNS Group

But Juve counter-attacked and Marchisio hit a shot

They were sharp and impressive in the opening exchanges, shuttling the ball at pace and looking to isolate Ambrose and Wilson with a succession of longer, higher probes.

But they had to operate at full speed because that’s the pace Celtic were setting for them.

Even before the opener, Victor Wanyama had tested Gianluigi Buffon with a tasty drive which the keeper fumbled around his left-hand post.

Buffon would make further saves to keep out another Wanyama effort and two more from Kris Commons all inside the opening 15 minutes. Charlie Mulgrew also cracked one into the keeper’s side netting as Celtic charged around, hunting for their opening.

And yet they knew a second goal would render them unconscious and the situation unrecoverable.

There were dangerous moments, such as when Vucinic picked out Marchiso with a cross to the back post but this time the midfield man sliced a volley over the top.

And so it continued, this constant, meaty cut and thrust. Celtic kept on peppering Buffon’s goal but without ever making the veteran perform heroics.

When the outstanding Commons did conjure something a little out of the ordinary, an overhead kick from Mikael Lustig’s cross, it caught Buffon flat-footed but bounced wide. This was as close as the home side would come to a first-half leveller.

But they headed inside with heads held high after as strong a 45 minutes as they had produced all season.

The real worry for Lennon at the break was that, even at their best, Celtic weren’t really rattling the Italians or dragging them out of their comfort zone.

He might also have spent the interval wondering if the Spanish officials might be a bit more generous or even just alert in the second half. They didn’t appear interested in clamping down on some rough tactics when Juve were defending set-plays and this had become a source of real annoyance to the home fans.

The fact that moments after the restart Lennon could be seen applauding ref Alberto Mallenco for awarding a fairly obvious foul suggested he too was nearing the end of his tether.

Lennon did not wait long to make a change, Adam Matthews replacing the limping Lustig before the hour.

And moments later he looked on in disbelief as Ambrose blew his big chance to even things up.

The defender was lurking in the penalty box as Celtic worked a short corner. He was then picked out perfectly by Mulgrew’s whipped delivery but although Ambrose was all alone, unmarked just six yards from goal, he managed only to fluff a header straight into Buffon’s arms. This was such an awful waste that it was bordering on unforgivable.

And Juventus were quick to dish out the punishment. In 76 minutes, Marchiso cut inside Scott Brown, leaving Ambrose in his slipstream before crashing a shot past Foster and ripping the heart and soul out of this stadium.

Then, eight minutes from time, Marchiso plunged in one last knife. He robbed Ambrose and slipped a perfect pass through for Vucinic to slam home Juve’s third of the night.

If helping Celtic to win this thing for a second time was on Ambrose’s Bucket List then he’ll just have to try again next year.